The things I have learned about living in the city. Last night, we went to dinner at this great Vientamese restaurant we discovered. While having dinner, I turned and noticed this rather odd young man had joined the neighboring table. He was unkempt and bleeding from a cut next to his eye. He was definitely not part of the large group of woman that occupied the table.
In an instant, he tried to steal the telephone of the woman who was closest to him. We all were aware of him, and screamed at him to leave before he could steal her stuff. He immediately ran out of the restaurant, surprising the staff as well. As they were not expecting this person or this type of behavior at the restaurant. In our time of living here, we are very careful where we put our bags and other stuff. Apparently robbery here in Barcelona is very common now.
The buses make announcements about holding onto your possessions as does the train. Similar to Buenos Aires, if you see a woman with an open purse, you say something. We take the buses now. Mostly because the visual references help me connect the dots of the city; how Carrer Laietana divides the sections of old city and Gothic Quarter and how streets at certain intersections change their names.
For getting around the city quickly the Metro train is great, but for getting to know how the different districts connect, the bus is the way to go. The Metro trains run daily until 12 am except for friday until 2am and Saturday all night long and Sunday 12am. But the buses run very late all weekend long, but you have to watch this as the numbers change and at night start with an N.
The routes are combined making long bus routes, but they do run pretty much on time. We notice late at night when returning from a milonga that the streets of Barcelona have a mixture of people walking about. There are the drunken Germans and Brits, speaking loudy and not walking quite upright.
